The Generals – both Active and Retired; The Politicians – of all stripes; The Mass Media; and of course - The Man / Woman on the Street.
And exactly what has gotten their collective knickers in a knot – why some poor dude dressed up in pseudo military attire and had the nerve to attend Remembrance Services here in the Nation’s Capital on November 11th.
I take a different tack – I feel sorry for the poor sod – obviously he is not happy in his own skin and for a moment was trying to be ‘somebody’.
And in that regard, he got his 15 minutes of fame when interviewed by CBC at the War Memorial.
But he got more than that – he was outed and shamed. The Police are looking into the possibility of laying Criminal Code charges against him and there are reports he may lose his menial employment consisting of building wooden steps for a local contractor. His marriage could well be in jeopardy too.
But that is not enough for the easily offended – one caller suggested he be put in jail for at least 10 years, another called for him to be forced to undergo basic training to ‘see what the military is all about’.
Where is their charity … where is their compassion?
I try to think what my late father and his father – my grandfather would have said – veterans of World War 2 and 1 respectively.
I believe they too would have shown sympathy for him – not that they would have approved of what he did, since they would not. But in the scheme of things such as ISIS creeps cutting off heads and terrorists killing unarmed soldiers here in our own country – his offence is really very small potatoes.
Many have even argued that our safety was threatened by this chap’s mascaraed – but how so - unless he came armed - which he did not.
And it would be entirely different situation if he impersonated a cop. Now that would be going too far since the public look to the police for protection.
So let’s call it for what it was – a pathetic little guy who for a few minutes tried unsuccessfully to be someone important.
It is to pity him not destroy him.
Postscript: Is it not somewhat ironic that an event where the underlying fear was that a terrorist would be found among them – the only one found was a would be soldier. And wouldn’t it have been even more ironic had the would be soldier been killed by a jihadist?
I wonder what the chattering classes would have said then?
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
